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America's CardroomAmerica's Cardroom has risen to become one of the top ten cardrooms in the world. This rise has fueled an even greater America's Cardroom with tournaments, cash games and special poker games like the Cage. Play tournaments from all low to high stakes. Every Sunday there's a $150,000 tourney that routinely goes over the guarantee. There are cash games in all stakes as well. Americas Cardroom created the Cage. It's a time limit tourney where after a fixed amount of hours you end up with your bankroll. The bonuses are very good. They're not in the business of giving money away but you can add some mileage to your account with the bonuses and new players get a nice welcome package including a freeroll, a bonus up to $1000, 20 days of free cash up to $50 in jackpot poker. Jackpot poker gives players the chance to randomly win a jackpot of up to $1,000,000 , yes one million dollars. And for grinders, several times a year, there are various special tournaments to keep you on your toes. The most recent featured two highstakes tourneys including a $500,000 and a $1,000,000. Both exceeded their guarantees!! They are doing something right. So if you're looking for a new place to play poker, check out America's Cardroom and get in now.

That’s right. For as low as $2.20 and a little luck, you could be in Vegas playing in the Main Event for millions of dollars this year. At Americas Cardroom, you can win a seat to the 2019 WSOP for a fraction of the $10,000 buy-in.
Between June 3rd to the 9th, there will be daily WSOP satellite tournaments and at least 15 packages will be awarded to winning players. Total value is $12,500. This is sponsored during WSOP Takedown Week.

Steps Tournaments
For as low as 28 cents, players can win their way up. There are seven steps with the first at .28. If you get lucky, you get the option to keep the cash or take your chances in Vegas. Personally, I don’t have a huge entourage that could take time off from work to cheer me on in Vegas, so I can’t say I’d jump at the chance. You often see winners with all their pals. But I do see the occasional person who goes singularly to the events, they win and go home. The buy-ins for the seven step tournaments are below. You can enter any one of the tournaments with the Step 7 tournament paying out with 15 Main Event seats.
Step 0 $0.25 + $0.03
Step 1 $1.50 + $0.15
Step 2 $6 + $0.60
Step 3 $15 + $1.50
Step 4 $50 + $5
Step 5 $140 + $10
Step 6 $500 +400
Step 7 $1,800 + $120

The WSOP is the apex of playing poker for NLH players and all poker players really. The WSOP is one of the most prestigious of tournaments to win. You could be next to a Phil Ivey or Fedor Holz. It’s really an amazing opportunity if you love the sport of poker.
The winning package includes the $10,000 buy-in and $2500 for travel expenses. A shout out for Americas Cardroom for the chance at greatness.
Americas Cardroom just completed an April High Five Series concluding with a $420,000 Main Event. It went over its guarantee and reached $664,000! The top winner, Package5, took home $124,835.76 pretty good for a days work! Congratulations.
Americas Cardroom is doing something right. Other top events are in the pics just click for the larger image.

Cub3d Boss Poker Tournament Highlights from Americas Cardroom

For the first time in a long time, Americas Cardroom is becoming the choice more and more poker professionals are turning to. There was pre Black Friday when Americas Cardroom aka Doyle’s Room was booming but things went south. They appear to be recovering. For the larger stakes tournaments, where those who make their living from playing poker play, there seems to be a boom. Most of them are over their guarantees for the first time in a very long time. Check out the pics below.
There was a time last year when they were going in that direction. But the site kept getting blasted with server disruptions to the point they scaled back. Now those ddos attacks seem like a thing in the past and it’s been smooth sailing. Let’s hope everything goes well. There’s a lot of money on the tables.
Here are some of the results from the high stakes tournaments there and the pics when clicked will show a small sample of what’s available. There are also finished results of the larger tournaments too. In July, Americas Cardroom will host the $5 Million Dollar Venom where the winner will walk away with a million dollars. Check out Americas Cardroom click here

In February, ACR, started the OSS, BOSS culminatively known as the Cub3d. There were lots of great poker tournaments including 2 million dollar tournaments. The million dollar tournament result is below. The winner walked away with almost $200,000. All from playing at home!!!

This video shows a short stack strategy as a case study. You will see it defies what some say about strategy and makes you realize you need to trust your own instincts as well. This is a youtube video no copyrite infringement intended. I just want to make sure the video was available.

This is the second part of a short stack comeback by bloodyfun. Player bloodyfun has been short stack throughout much of the tournament but fortunes change.
Bloodyfun goes all-in with a pair of fives and wins. This is the start of this players’ rise. Bloodyfun’s chip stack roughly doubles. Next is the high card queen with the 8 as a kicker. One big change happens when Bloodyfun goes all-in with ace-7 and gets an ace pair. Another major move is all-in with ace-6 with a 6 pair win.
Bloodyfun has been steadily increasing their chip stack.
The ace-2 combo is another winner for Bloodyfun. This time the scene has changed with Bloodyfun in the lead. Finally, Bloodyfun has a queen pair and goes all-in and their opponent does the same. Bloodyfun wins the pot and game.
To sum it up, Bloodyfun gains with pairs and ace combos and then caps it off with a queen pair.Short Stack Strategy
This is a case study of excellent short stack play. Pairs and high cards are your best bets when short stack. You will also note many tips not often used like low pairs were also used with success.
Any player will find themselves with a short stack. It could be starting later in a tournament, you haven’t had any great runs, or you bet and lost chips. Any of these scenarios can lead to a small chip stack. But there is a way to get more. These are some strategies to use to increase your chip stack.
Many people use anywhere between 10 to 40 big blinds as a measure of being short stacked. The higher number is excellent to use a a guide since it will get you thinking before you get to 10.
With short stacks, you don’t want to waste any chips. Do very little bluffing, or “maybe hands”. You want to increase your chances of winning chips. I’ve seen bluffers go all-in with flop of 4 hearts, 4 spades and king hearts, only to have an opponent bet with 4 clubs and diamonds. Bluffing doesn’t always work, so don’t try it when you’re short stacked. Your goal is to win tournaments.Flop and Pre-flop
For short stacks this is where the action is. If you have an ace pair you will want to raise and put everyone on defense. Most of the high cards work here but ace pair or ace with anything else that could lead a pair should be considered. Often, players don’t want to go to the river with raising potentially losing more chips.
Some people advise to not use suited connector or small pairs. I disagree because I find them to be the most lucrative when you have the winning hand. Suited connectors mostly face cards but even 8 an 9s can lead to flushes or straights. It doesn’t happen often but when they do you chip stack will improve dramatically. The same thing with small pairs. Many people bet big with ace king. They don’t always materialize. Also pairs could lead to three of kinds, fullhouses and four of a kind. They won’t if you fold them.
As you can see from the video above, small five pairs essentially kicked off Bloodyfun’s rise in the tournament. You will also note Bloodyfun used the ace-combos well to win frequently as well.
The top hands to use most of the time are:

These hands are basically a laundry list of the top, highest ranking hands. But guess what? They don’t always work. But if you’re going to take a chance, you want to take your chances here. And you want to take your chances with most pairs.
With most pairs you want to assess the flop. If your pair is lower than the flop or doesn’t have three of kind it’s best to check fold vs call. Be safe not sorry.
When you think you have a great hand raise it first. This is one of the greatest tips ever. Most players know that ace pair doesn’t always work and don’t always want to negotiate hands defensively and would rather fold giving you the pot. And pots add up over time.
Best practices.Raise with strong hands.Use pocket pairs and suited connectors till the flop comes out.Using higher face cards will lead to victory more often than using lower value cards.

Strategy theory vs the real game
In poker, hands change all the time. You might find a pair of two beating an ace king combo. Suited connectors connect to flushes and straights. You have to develop an ability to trust your own instincts with playing poker and that is one of the best strategies out there. One WSOP Main event was one with a high card and another with a pair of 3s. So develop the ability to trust your instincts and your winning will increase several fold over.

The name says it all. On July 15, 2018, Americas Cardroom had its Million Dollar Sunday. The Million Dollar Sunday events were almost each and every Sunday till a massive ddos attack made the site scale back. But Americas Cardroom looks like it’s in full swing again.
The latest series featured only high stakes tournaments starting at $109 and going up to $2000 for the Million Dollar Sunday tournament.

The picture says it all. The prize pool was nearly a million dollars at $988,000. There were 494 entries, some of whom got in with the satellite tournaments leading to the event. First prize was $200,000. This is excellent cash that’s lifechanging for many.
In the picture, you’ll see it was taken 9 hours into the event. That’s a long time but not even close to the finish. The tournament ended around 5am the next day. These tournaments are like those dancing contests they had in American history where the winner just had to keep dancing. It must awesome though to win.
Check out the top players here. In the coming photo you’ll see how it changed.

One of the oldest players to ever win a title took home th $1000 Super Senior event at the 2018 WSOP. From a field of 2,191 players, the action led to this 83 year old mother of poker pro Farzad Bonyadi. This is the first mother son duo to win WSOP titles. Farzad Bonyadi is a three time bracelet winner. She also won $311,451 for the event. To join the tournament, players need to be 60 years of age and up.
Believe it or not, she entered the final table in seventh position. She outlasted them all and won in heads up play against Robert Beach with a nine pair.
The final results were:

2018 World Series of Poker $10,000 Seven Card Stud Event Won by Yaniv Birman

In a final table with four WSOP bracelet winners a player must be focused. But that was what Yaniv Birman was when he won the Seven Card Stud event and his first gold bracelet. Not only did he triumph over several bracelet winners, but also two previous two time winners, Ben Yu and Jesse Martin. For his effort, he wins $236,238 and his first gold bracelet.
Yaniv Birman outlasted a tough final table to win the 2018 World Series of Poker $10,000 seven card stud event, earning $236,238 and his first gold bracelet in the process. The 35-year-old business owner from Los Angeles, California had to overcome four WSOP bracelet winners at the final table, including two two-time winners in Jesse Martin and Ben Yu.
There were 83 players who created a $780.200 prize pool. His winning hand was a pair of nines against a pair of threes from Jesse Martin.
The top results were:

Double Stack $1,000 No Limit Holdem Event Won by Robert Peacock at the 2018 WSOP
No pun intended but players flocked to the double stack $1,000 no limit holdem event which was won by Robert Peacock. A huge pool of $5,130,000 from 5,700 entries created a massive first place prize of $644,224. Peacock also gets his first bracelet.
He entered the final table in second position and managed to hold on till heads up against. Nicholas Salimbene. He held a 2:1 chip lead over him. He sent him to rail with a king kicker.
The final results for the event were:

Winning his first gold bracelet, Preston Lee has won the $1,500 No limit holdem shoot out event at the 2018 WSOP. There were 908 players with a first place prize of $236,498 in his first major title. The style of the event is the sit n’go style tournament with players who won advancing the next day and same structure the next day. It was a three day event.

$1,500 Limit Hold’em Bracelet At 2018 World Series of Poker Won by Robert Nehorayan

The limit holdem $1500 event was won by Robert Nehorayan. It’s his first gold bracelet and he gets $173,568. His previous cashes include the 2007 WSOP main event and a win in the 206 California State Poker Championship.
He stated getting great cards helped overcome any mixed feeling about frustration.
The top finishers were:

For nearly 20 years, Yuegi Zhu has been going to the WSOP. Finally, after 72 WSOP cashes, he has got his first gold bracelet and $211,781 in the $1500 Mixed Omaha Eight or Better event. There were 773 entries in the tournament. He thought he was the only person to have the most top three cashes without a bracelet. That is now history.
He entered the final table in fifth place and managed to maneuver himself to the first place position when Gabriel Ramos went all-in with two pair against Zhu’s straight. Ramos took home $130,850 for his effort.
The final results were:

Michael Mizrachi Wins His Third World Series of Poker $50,000 Poker Players Championship Title

“The Grinder” Michael Mizrachi, accomplished one of the most amazing accomplishments in poker history. He triumphed over 87 of the world’s best players to win, for the third time, the World Series of Poker $50,000 Players Championship. This brings his gold bracelet count to 4 and he gets a whopping $1,239,126 for his great run. The win also brings his poker career earnings to $16.7 million.

He won the event in 2010 as well as 2012. This is the 13th running of the event and is combination of eight poker games.

Mizrachi took the sail out Dan Smith’s chip stack playing deuce to seven triple draw cooler. Smith had his remaining chips sucked up by John Hennigan.

In heads up play, Mizrachi and Hennigan battled it out till Mizrachi raised from the button and Hennigan three-bet his raise. The flop came and Hennigan bet again and Mizrachi raised to two million chips. Hennigan bet 5.3 million chips.The flop brought flush draw for Mizrachi against straight draw for Hennigan. Mizrachi walked away with the cash, title and prestige.
The final results were:

With earnings over $25,0000,000 and being in his early twenties, Fedor Holz is regarded as one of today’s top poker players. He’s from Germany but lives in Austria. This is little bio on Fedor Holz and his exciting poker history.

His mother was a teen mom and he grew up with a distant father and two younger sisters. He started playing poker at around 16, a common age for many of today’s top players. After graduating from secondary school, he went to college to study computer science. He got sick and had to stop and then continued playing poker. After six months he committed himself to playing poker and hasn’t looked back.

His early years, he was out on his own living modestly. Maybe spending $400 per month. His first live cash that counted was in Rozvadov. In that event, the $500 Euro No Limit Holdem event, he cashed for nearly $20,000, finishing in second place. Shortly afterwards he won his first tournament at the Lebanese Poker Cup. Though the cash was around $5000, I’m sure the self confidence boost was great.

After that he moved to Austria and stayed with a group of poker players. This was according to him a great experience since they supported each other.

When asked if money was a motivation he states yes and no. That money is a driving factor at some point. At the beginning of his career, money was more a motivating factor than at the point he is at right now. It’s interesting since he makes the most money now with high stakes tournaments than at the beginning of his career. The money seems like how it for many who’ve reached a goal. Once there it’s not as great a thrill as in the beginning. He has many more options now and does things outside of poker as well.

On his success, he says it’s really a mindset. To improve one’s game everyday is what counts and it takes focus to improve the game that makes individuals succeed. He also says there are only a handful of players out there who are focused like this and those who do are today’s top poker players. The other side of the success, having so much money at a young age is something he has to deal with consistently as well. He seems pretty level headed about it though. In addition to poker, he’s also the CEO of Primed Mind, a success program.

Primed Mind is an App. Users listen to a mindset coach named Elliot. The goal is to allow visualization, and relaxation techniques to set goals. The ultimate agenda is create self confidence, better health, personal growth and recovery skills. He along with Nathan Schmitt and Duane Ludwig are the three key people at Primed Mind along with Elliot Roe, the mindset coach.

Not only is he still winning at poker but also balancing himself out through other ventures. He “retired” from poker only to come out of his retirement and continue playing and winning all over again. And he’s unstoppable.

For the year 2017, here’s a look at his top cashes.

Poker Tournament Buyin Cash Result

2017 Bellagio High Roller Series $25,000 $85,000

2017 Triton Super High Roller Series $128,150 $2,131,740

2017 Grand Prix Austria $2,609 $40,460

2017 Poker Masters $100,000 $504,000

2017 Poker Masters $50,000 $550,000

2017 Triton Super High Roller Series $32,022 $451,386

2017 Aria Summer High Roller Series $50,000 $417,600

2017 Aria Summer High Roller Series $50,000 $330,660

2017 Aria 10K-01 Event $10,500 $42,000

2017 PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo $5,677 $62,283

2017 PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo $54,526 $348,582

2017 PokerStars Championship Macau $51,473 $877,392

2017 Aussie Millions $8,009 $254,600

2017 Aussie Millions $75,000 $266,293

His total take home from 2017 is over $6 million dollars. And he’s only 24. You could say it was a very good year!

Fedor Holz online poker results are nothing less than phenomenal as well. At PokerStars, his nickname is Crownupguy. He has ranked number one several times when he allowed his results to be tracked.

Fedor Holz is a phenomenal poker player. At 24, he’s done what many only wish they could do. It seems there is no stopping him and look for him to be someday in the Poker Hall of Fame along with Ivey, Negreanu, Doyle and other top poker players who’ve made a great name for themselves in the world of poker.

Bad Beat Jackpot Winner Takes Home $200,000
Bad Beat Jackpot has $200,000 Winner at Rivers Casino in Pennsylvania
The largest badbeat jackpot ever paid out by Rivers Casino was won for nearly $200,000. A bad beat is a hand that would otherwise but lost to a better hand.
It was the first time in two years since the jackpot was won and climbed to a half million dollar total. The jackpot was divided among all eight players at the table. The winner won $192,234.85. He had four eights. The second payout was for $144,172. He had a straight flush. The remaining players at the table each received $24,028.
Rivers Casino has a 30 table poker room and 92 table games and a gaming floor with 3000 slots machines. There are also restaurants and concert hall.
Foxwoods Features Million Dollar Guarantee December 2017
Between December 1 to the 11th, Foxwoods will be host a 12 event poker series that features a million dollar guarantee.
The series starts with $500,000 guarantee nhl $600 buy-in event. And there are satellites to the event with $120 satellite tourneys.
Another high stakes tourney is the $250,000 guaranteed no limit holdem event with a $1650 buy-in that is done in various stages over several days. Other events include Omaha eight or better, a senior’s event and ladies event.
Foxwoods is the long standing casino and hotel with premier entertainment, gaming and shopping.Radioactive Playing Cards Found in Berlin Germany
Playing cards laced with radioactive iodine were found in a Berlin restaurant. Detectives theorize a hidden detector worn by a player could all players to recognize certain cards. This was discovered at a waste treatment facility. It was traced from the restaurant. The restaurant in question though doesn’t have a gambling room.

PLO Player Cumicon Retires at 30 with $7 Million Dollars in Winnings
Between 2013 and 2017, a poker player named Cumicon took home over $7 million dollars and retired from poker. He played PLO and mostly online at PokerStars. Most over the games were heads up cash games from $2/4 and up to $200/400.
Cumicon is per profile a 30 year old man from New York.
Cumicon has been featured several times in Poker News on highlights of poker events. He’s also featured in Pocketfives.

Playing poker I often will fold a low pair like a two or three or actually anything less than seven or eight. Often a higher ranking King or Queen will come in a wipe out my hope for a flush. I did adjust the strategy for those potential three of a kind and full house combos. And I found a mixed bag of success. Sometimes, those low pairs might be a winner by themselves and could even lead to a fullhouse or four of a kind.
The strategy is to checkout the first three cards that come up and if it looks good hang in there. For example, I get dealt a pair of deuces. If an opponent raises, I often will call. The flop shows unsuited Ace, Three, Four. I have a potential straight and if an opponent raises I will hang in there for a five. If there is a re-raise and I don’t have anything by this time, I will often fold.
Another scenarios is with a pair of deuces and the flop shows Ace, King, Queen or a potential straight not with my hold cards, I will fold. After all, a three of kind isn’t much to a potential straight.
The other side of the equation is also true. If the flop gives you a three of kind, check out the cards around it. Potential straights not including your hole card might occur. Often flushes and straights don’t happen. Chasing a flush or straight really requires gut instinct . They do happen but less frequently than pairs or three of kinds.
Below is a video of the latter example. The board revealed a pair of twos and the winner had one deuce in his hand. There wasn’t much potential for straights in this hand so it was an instinct move on the winner. The winner in this tourney took home over $250,000 in the Americas Cardroom Million Dollar Tourney in December, 2016.Three of a Kind Deuces Wins Million Dollar Tournament

Qui Nguyen has taken over the lead in day one of the final table and has a major chip lead. The action leading to the four bust outs are:
Fernando Pons went all-in with ace-six but lost when Cliff Josephy won with three of kind of kings. Jerry Wong was next with a pocket jacks being overruled by Vojtech Ruzicka’s pocket queens. Griffin Benger was next out when a pocket tens from Gordon Vayo won over Benger’s ace- nine combo.
The biggest hand of the night however went to Nguyen who took Kenny Hallert out with a pair of aces against Hallaert’s ace queen of clubs. Though that was the biggest hand of the night, Nguyen had been leading for most of the night. That hand was more or less the cap of a successful night at the table.
The remaining players are guaranteed at least $1.9 million.
There are five players remaining.
Chip counts for the remaining players are:
Nguyen 128,625,000
Josephy 63,850,000
Vojtech Ruzicka 62,250,000
Vayo 58,200,000
Ruane 23,700,000
All the players who busted out are guaranteed at least a million dollars . First place finish will take home $8 million dollars.

Finding Tournaments and Poker Games at Americas Cardroom

Navigating your way around a poker lobby can be daunting. Lots of links that you might overlook quickly and click somewhere you didn’t have in mind. So, I made a couple of images of the lobby of America’s Cardroom. The goal is to be able to find the various games available. From cash games to tournaments to PLO and more they’re covered in this easy to find graphic post.

All Poker TournamentsIf you click all, you will find all of the tournaments available at any given time. It’s easier to focus on your favorite style game like Highstakes, Sit & Go and check out the available tournaments in that category

Cash GamesAfter logging in, you’ll see the cash games screen. Some players swear by cash games. They make sense for a great reason – time management. If you don’t have 10 hours for some of larger tournaments and say 2 or 3, cash games can work to your advantage. Also, your concentration span might be within a few hour window. If so, cash games might be your best bet for poker games. Many professional poker players play only cash games and make a great living on them.

Micro, Low, Medium, High stakes poker gamesLook at the arrows in white and yellow and you’ll see the micro, low, medium and highstakes games available at Americas Cardroom. If you run your mouse over them they will highlight the color red and when you click them a new window will open showing all the games that are available.

Jackpot PokerAmericas Cardroom introduced jackpot poker. It’s an exciting way to win a jackpot while playing. The buy-ins are from $3 to $40 and the jackpots go up to $100,000. There is no secret to winning the jackpots, just play poker which is a three at a table style game and you’re eligible for the jackpot. It’s a random jackpot winning game.

Omaha and Stud GamesLook at the panel at the top of the screen and you’ll find Omaha and Stud games. Click it and a new window will open showing the various omaha and stud games available. Fewer people play these games but the action is there for those who do.

Sit & Go Poker ScheduleSit & Go Tournaments are featured here. Like above just click the panel Sit & Go and the tournaments will open with a new window. Sit & Go tournaments need a certain amount of players to start with and when that occurs the game begins. There are various stakes from freeroll to over $20. The most popular are the freerolls, the 0.50 cents and the dollar sit & go tournaments.

Americas Cardroom will be hosting the High Five Series from October 19th to October 23rd. The theme is 420 and everyday at 4:20 PM there will be a courtesy break for poker players to take a “breather”.
The highlight of this tournament is the $420,000 Main Event. But there will be many competitive poker tournaments for all ranges of players from small stakes to high stakes. Overall, there is almost one million dollars on the table of guaranteed prize money over the series.
In addition to the Big 10 and Turbo tournaments, each day will have 5 High Five Series Tournaments. And for the $420,000 Main Event, not only will the winner walk away with the prize money estimated at $125,000 but also get a sterling silver High Five bracelet as additional compensation.
It’s great time to play at Americas Cardroom. The tournament schedule is noted below. For new players, you can get up to $1000 in bonus money, a freeroll and 20 days of free jackpot poker as additional sign up bonus. And if you’re really good, you can walk away with over $100,000! Check out America’s Cardroom.
The High Five Series schedule is below:

High Five Series Schedule:

Here are all scheduled series events including dates, game types, start times and buy-ins. Note that satellites for the big tournament events will be running before and during the series, so you can secure your entries for pennies on the dollar!

The $1500 buy-in Millionaire Maker No Limit Holdem Event was captured by Jason Dewitt. It was the first time the top two prizes guaranteed $1 million dollars. The event had 1,079 entries for a prize pool of $9,706,500. This tournament had players from age 21 to 92. The Millionaire Maker event takes place over five days. Dewitt who hales from San Diego and was a grocery bagger before turning poker pro bagged the $1,065,403 prize.
For Dewitt this marks his seventh WSOP final table appearance and brings his total WSOP earnings to $2,557,482. He also received his first gold bracelet for the victory.
Dewitt’s strategy throughout the tournament was to raise, re-raise and put the competition on the defensive. Raising and re-raising almost automatically puts fellow players into doubt about their cards strength since only a royal flush is guaranteed and every thing else is negotiable. Many will opt to fold. As a strategy over multiple hands, this is a very effective way to build a bankroll. It helps to have good strong hands as well.
The final hand was heads up against Garrett Greer a was won with a King high hand against Greer’s Queen high hand.
Other tournament highlights were schoolteacher from Washington scraped enough money to make the tournament and walked away with $500,000. This was her first WSOP and impressive that she won. She’s previously won the Pendelton OR tournament.Alex Jacob, tv show Jeopardy’s most winning player finished in 52nd place.
The top finishers were:Jason Dewitt $1,065,403Garrett Greer $1,000,000Lisa Meredith $500,000Frank Rusnak $366,787Luke Brereton $276,632Arkadiy Tsinis $210,112Mikhail Semin $160,725Alessio Dicesare $123,828Stanley Lee $96,091

Persistence pays off is the case of Peter Eichhardt, the winner of the $1500 No Limit Holdem Tournament at the 2016 WSOP. He’s entered the Main Event eight times without cashing. This is his first major cash with $438,417. At the age of 50 he’s older than most of the players at the WSOP. The runner up, Davis Aalvik is 69.
At the final hand, he held king jack hearts. His opponent, Davis Aalvik, had king nine unsuited. The flop showed three hearts giving Eichhardt his massive victory. Aalvik settled for second place and $270,842.
Eichhardt is also a part time writer and worked in a casino in St. Petersburg in the 90s. Scenarios from this period give him most of his stories that basically crime stories. The tournament ran one day longer than expected. There were 2,016 entries with a total prize pool of $2,7721,600.
The top nine finishers are:
Peter Eichhardt $439,255
Davis Aalvik $270,842
Michael Addamo $196,202
John Racener $143,563
Tim Farrelly $106,115
Bruno Borges $79,241
Raymond Phu $59,787
Anthony Zinno $45,582

The WSOP has crowned another victor in the name of Ryan D’Angelo who won the Deuce Seven Draw Lowball Event. For his win, he will pocket $92,338. It’s a great return on the $1500 entry. This type of poker game is played usually only at high limit mixed cash games or at the WSOPDeuce Seven Draw Lowball Poker
This variant of poker is inverted in that the lowest hand wins. Since it is is draw game, two cards can be discarded and replaced for a better hand. Aces are always high. In 2-7 Draw poker, the best hand is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 . So it is challenging game for most players who are use to the high cards, pairs, three of kind combination wins games. At the WSOP this is the lowest prize of any game. The glory in playing this game demonstrates being an all around great poker player. Many of the players in this game are multiple WSOP bracelet winners and all around great poker players like Erik Siedel who finished 25th but has 94 WSOP cashes under his belt.
For Ryan D’Angelo this marks his fourth final table at the WSOP and brings his total WSOP earnings to $750,959.
Other top place finshers were:John Monette $56,061Tom Franklin $38,582Dan Kelly $26,632Konstantin Maslak $18,775Todd Barlow $13,524Alex Dovzhenko $9,959Joao Vieira $7,501Barry Greenstein $5,781

Former poker dealer turned pro Lawrence Berg has won the Dealers Choice WSOP tournament. It was a six max event and featured 19 variants of poker. No limit holdem, H.O.R.S.E. and other poker games like Baduecey and Badugi were featured. The game played was the dealers choice or player on the button. It requires a lot of adaptability and flexibility of thinking to play this tournament well. For his win, he pockets $125,466. It’s the largest prize of his poker career for the 38 year old. He worked at the Bellagio before turning pro as a dealer.
Berg finished first among 389 players that included two previous gold bracelet winners Andrew Brown and Paul Volpe who finished third and fourth respectively. Chinese player, Yueqi Zhu, finished in second place for the $77,526 prize. Zhu has made 47 WSOP cashes to date. He learned how to play poker via the internet.
Some of the top finishers and their cashes were:Lawrence Berg $125,466Yueqi Zhu $77,466Andrew Brown $50,250Paul Volpe $33,393Joey Couden $22,765John Templeton $ 15,932Daniel Habi $11,454

Kyle Julius wins his first bracelet and the $142,972 first place cash. He won over Belgium’s Bart Lybaert in the WSOP Top Up Turbo No Limit Holdem Event. He triumped over a field of 667 players. This is the first bracelet of his professional poker career and at 29 is looking at the road ahead for his poker career.
The Top Up Turbo No Limit Holdem structure was unusual in that players could double their chip stacks from sit n go tourneys at the Rio and online. They could also purchase additional chips for $1000. About half of the players elected for additional chips bringing the total pool to $681,000. Innovation has been key with use of online tournaments and entries. Most of the tournaments have online registration as well.
Ben Yu was knocked out for third place by Julius and this set the final heads up match between Julius and Belgium’s Bart Lybaert. It was a brief round though with Julius going all-in with a 4 pair against Lybaerts King of clubs, nine of hearts. Though the flop revealed a king, it also revealed a four of clubs, giving Julius a three of a kind and a victory. Lybaert won $88,328 for his runner up position.
The WSOP is off to an exciting start. The Colossus is set to resume today June 7 for the final matches.

This page gets back to the basics about Texas Holdem Poker. Every now and then I get an email about various aspects of the game. So, I decided to go over the game from the beginning. And while this article isn’t all there is, it’s a step in the right direction, instead of hearing about poker superstars or the latest tournaments.
History of Texas holdem poker
Today’s top poker players have people like Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim and Jack Binion to thank for the game of Holdem Poker played today. Then professional card players were looked at like seedy people. Often games were held in out of the way locations and crime at these events occurred often. The game originally started in Texas and moved to Nevada. In hopes to attract wealthy clients, the game originally played at the Golden Nugget. It was moved to what was the Dunes hotel, a better environment. Interest in the game grew and exploded with television broadcasts. This really became the turning point. Suddenly millions of people would watch these players at round tables playing this game. Next, the internet made it so much easier.
In the early internet, porn and gambling were the two biggest money makers. One lucky player named Chris Moneymaker managed to win the WSOP and entered through an online casino operator for $50. He is cited by many players today as the reason they got into poker and this has been coined the “moneymaker effect”. Now, everyone had access to the big bucks that poker offered. It was a wide open field all you had to do was win. Online poker is making players millionaires and top operators billionaires. Pokerstars was recently sold for five billion dollars and several of their top players have annual earnings in the seven figures. This is one of several online poker sites. Poker today is truly hot. For all the money on the table, poker is a simple game to play.
Poker is a community card game. Players have cards in their hands called hole or pocket cards and there are community cards that are displayed face on the table. The combination of the two decides the winning hands.
The first round is pre-flop. This is when all members are dealt their two cards. Players then get to bet, raise or fold. After this the first of three card come out. This is the flop phase of the of the round. Players get to raise, check or fold. To check is to neither raise or fold but indicate you’re still in the game. If a player raises everyone has to raise or fold. The next round is the turn. A fourth card comes out followed by another round of raising, checking or folding. Then a fifth card comes out. This is the river where everyone can add it all up and decide again to raise, check or fold. Afterwards is the showdown where everyone shows what cards they have and the player with the highest card value wins.
As in most forms of poker the ranking of hands is royal flush. A royal flush are all the face cards of the same suit and a ten.
A straight flush is the next rank the hand rankings. A straight flush is the same suit in sequence as in the diagram. In case of two straight flushes in a hand, the higher of the flush will win. For example, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of spades will beat Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 of the same suit.
Four of a kind ranks next.
A full house is next. A full house is made three of kind and a pair. As in the straight flush the highest of the full houses will win if there are two full houses.
Next is a flush. A flush is five cards of the same suit. The highest card value will win if there are two flushes here as well.
A straight ranks next. Like a royal flush, a straight flush is all the same cards in sequence of mixed suits.
Three of a kind ranks next. This is self-explanatory. and finally a pair is the next ranking card.
Also, there is high card, in the event no one has any matching pair. An ace will trump a king, as an example.
Players are seated in a oval table. As a betting round finishes the dealer position rotates by one clockwise. The two players to the left of the dealer, right if you’re online, are called the blinds. There is the big blind and small bind. These are the first bettors with the big blind betting the round amount and the small bind betting half that.
There is much written on strategy in poker. There’s always someone who has a new way of strategy. For beginners, this is sometimes good. There’s often a tip or two that will help you win tournaments. One of the best I’ve found is Gripsed Poker. He has a massive amounts of free videos on Youtube and he has thousands of subscribers. It’s a free channel also and you can learn lots of things that will improve your game. Experienced players can also benefit especially if stuck in rut.
There is also software called huds, pokertracker, is an example. You use these as a companion while playing online . The computer will indicate whether it’s a good time to bet or not. The decision is up to you. Some swear by them other people don’t. By the way online poker is the way many of today’s poker players are working the poker scene today.
Online poker has many benefits. You can learn without distractions of a casino. You can create a comfortable atmosphere to work in and excel. One of my favorite sites for poker is Americas Cardroom.

So, here are the basics of Texas Holdem Poker. There’s so much out there in terms of abstracts of poker it’s amazing. Staying focused with a strategy of some sort often works out best even though poker is an ever changing sport with very little predictable. It’s an exciting sport and many will continue to play for a long time.

The poker juggernaut continued for Joe McKeehen with this final table win over Joshua Beckley. Many people felt McKeehen wouldn’t last. It’s only the second time in WSOP history that the chip leader going into the final table has come out a winner. Jonathan Duhamel did it in 2008 but that’s all. Based on history, it was an unexpected win. But not for McKeehen. He compared the final table to a freeroll because of his chip stack but he cruised to the top with a nonchalant attitude.

McKeehen sent home six of the final table members in showdowns including Neil Blumenfield , 61, who took home $3.4 million for his efforts. He’s former software executive who sold his company to Intuit in 2013. He says the similiarities in poker and business are that the top 10% make any real money. In many ways this is true. These players have probably made more than 90% off all players during the entire poker playing career.

After knocking Blumenfield out his next victim was Joshua Beckley. Beckley held a pocket pair of 4s and as the flop came, a ten was all it took for McKeehen to claim with WSOP title. Beckley takes home $4.5 million for his work which is excellent.

His aggressive betting style didn’t aid him in getting more chips and now he goes back to Israel nearly $2,000,000 richer. Stern was up against Neil Blumenfield who had Ace King while Stern held Ace Jack. As the flop unfolded 7h, 5s, 3d, Blumenfield kept his lead. Then King of diamonds came on the turn giving Blumenfield the pair. The Queen completed the set. Stern bowed out at 5th place.

Max Steinberg is also out. He failed to get any great chip counts and a bluff left him in the dust against Neil Blumenfield. Steinberg had unsuited 2 and 3 against Blumenfield’s pair of Queens. He folded in a raise and left him with 18,250,000 chips. Finally Joe McKeehen stepped in with a raise holding Ace Queen, Steinberg who held Ace Jack went all in for 16,500,000 chips and was effectively out with Mckeehen’s Queen kicker. He’ll collect $2,600,000 for his work.

The remain three, Beckly, McKeehen, and Blumenfield meet Tuesday in the finale!!

Thomas Cannuli of New Jersey was the 6rh man out at the WSOP. He came in as the short stack.He lost to Max Steinberg. He went in with a pair of Aces and Steinberg held a pair of tens. The flop revealed Jack, Ten and a Six giving Steinberg, a three of a kind win.

Cannuli won $1,400,000 for all his work. This was just the 2nd hand of the night. Cannuli thanked everyone like a good sportsman and afterall he’s in his mid twenties and $1,400,000 is a great deal of money to have at that age. Steinberg’s stack was raised to over 31,000,000 chips and second on the leaderboard